Partial Reinforcement of Social Behavior in Rats

1970 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 723-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughn E. Stimbert
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Response ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Partial Reinforcement Training ◽  
Schedule Effects

The effects of partial reinforcement on a social response were studied in 2 groups of rats. One group was trained to follow other rats on a continuous schedule and the other on a partial (50%) schedule. Animals having partial reinforcement training performed at a higher level during extinction than those trained under continuous reinforcement. The results were interpreted as extending reinforcement schedule effects to animal social behavior.

Extinction Performance as a Function of N-R Transitions and Intertrial Reinforcement with Extended Partial Reinforcement Training

1968 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 765-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Spivey ◽  
David T. Hess ◽  
James Klemic
Keyword(s):  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Albino Rats ◽  
Extinction Performance ◽  
Extended Training ◽  
Consistent Reinforcement ◽  
Intertrial Reinforcement ◽  
Partial Reinforcement Training

3 groups of albino rats were given 96 acquisition trials in a runway. One group (C) was given consistent reinforcement, while the other 2 groups (PN, PR) received the same partial reinforcement pattern, RRNNRRNN, on each day. Following Trial 4 for Group PN and Trial 5 for Groups PR and C., Ss were given intertrial reinforcement. In extinction the groups were ordered PR, PN, C, with Group PR being most resistant to extinction. Taken in conjunction with the results of studies involving abbreviated training, the findings were interpreted as supporting the view that the same variables or processes influence extinction performance following both abbreviated and extended training. The results were further interpreted as supporting the modified aftereffects hypothesis.

Partial Delay and Partial Reinforcement Effects on Resistance to Continuous Delay: Some Effects of Sequential Manipulations

1976 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-834
Author(s):  
Dennis G. Dyck ◽  
Roger L. Mellgren ◽  
Bruce Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Learning ◽  
Straight Alley ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Sequential Theory ◽  
Partial Delay ◽  
Continuous Delay ◽  
Partial Reinforcement Training

Rats were trained in a straight-alley runway in two replications of 24 rats each. Two groups received partial reinforcement training with one or three successive nonreward trials (N-length), two groups received partial delay training with one and three successive delayed trials (D-length), and two additional groups received immediate continuous reinforcement. Following training all groups were shifted to continuous delay. The results indicated that D-length increased resistance to continuous delay, however, N-length did not have the corresponding effect. The performance of both N-length groups equalled that of the D-length 3 group, but the D-length 1 group was inferior and not different from the continuously reinforced control groups. These results were discussed in terms of Capaldi's (1967) sequential theory of instrumental learning.

The Influence of Partial Reinforcement on Serial Autoshaping with Pigeons

1983 ◽  
Vol 35 (4b) ◽  
pp. 275-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Collins ◽  
Douglas B. Young ◽  
Keith Davies ◽  
John M. Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Associative Strength ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Compound Conditioning ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Serial Compound

The effect of partial reinforcement on the rate of responding during the first element of a serial compound was investigated using autoshaping in pigeons. Experiment I employed the illumination of a response key by two different colours as the elements of the compound. Responding during the first element was faster when this stimulus was intermittently paired with the second element and the unconditioned stimulus than when a continuous reinforcement schedule was employed. Experiment II demonstrated that this effect of partial reinforcement is unaffected by maniuplating the associative strength of the second element at the outset of compound conditioning. A similar effect of partial reinforcement was also found in Experiment III which used a tone as the first element of the serial compound.

Human Maze Learning as a Function of Stress and Partial Reinforcement

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 975-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Maze Learning ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Stress Conditions ◽  
Monotonic Function ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Competing Response ◽  
Increasing Function

96 Ss learned a 23-row button maze under 1 of 3 stress conditions and partial or continuous reinforcement. Stress conditions were error, error and speed instruction, or error and speed instruction plus irrelevant shock. Number of errors were an increasing function of stress, but rate (responses per second) suggested a non-monotonic function. Reinforcement schedule was not an effective variable. Results were discussed with relation to competing response tendencies associated with motivation.

Information and the Partial Reinforcement Acquisition Effect

1973 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. N. Wilton ◽  
R. O. Clements
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Partial Reward ◽  
The Other ◽  
Delayed Reinforcement ◽  
The Third ◽  
Trial Outcome ◽  
Trial Outcomes

Three groups of rats were trained on a delayed reinforcement schedule in an L-shaped runway. The running response, completed just before the turn of the runway, initiated the delay and exposed the rats to one of two delay stimuli. For two of the groups partial reward (50%) followed the delay. For one of these groups the delay stimuli and trial outcomes were correlated, making the delay stimuli informative with respect to the trial outcome some seconds before the outcome occurred. For the other group the delay stimuli and outcomes were uncorrelated, so information was not delivered until the occurrence of the trial outcome. The third group was reinforced on every trial (CRF), so no information followed responding at all. The results were that the partial reinforcement animals trained with correlated stimuli ran most quickly, followed by the partial reinforcement animals trained with uncorrelated stimuli, and then by the animals that were reinforced on every trial. The results were explained by the hypothesis that stimuli antedating the goal are increased in reinforcing strength when they transmit information, with the increase being proportionally greater the further the stimuli are from the goal.

Perseveration of the Partial Reinforcement Effect in Extinction with Rats over Two Phases of Extinction and Two Stages of Continuous Reinforcement

2007 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Calef ◽  
Michael C. Choban ◽  
Katherine R. Glenney ◽  
Ruth A. Calef ◽  
Erik Schmitt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Partial Reinforcement Effect ◽  
Straight Alley ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Albino Rats ◽  
Reinforcement Effect ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Two Stages

One group of 10 male albino rats was given partial reinforcement while the other 10 rats received continuous reinforcement in a straight alley. Subjects then experienced five consecutive stages of Extinction 1, Continuous Reinforcement 1, Extinction 2, Continuous Reinforcement 2, and finally, Extinction 3. Analysis showed the partial reinforcement effect in extinction was sustained over two stages of extinction and two stages of continuous reinforcement, since subjects receiving partial reinforcement ran faster than rats given continuous reinforcement throughout all three of the extinction periods. The results seem to support those of Amsel's (1967) and Capaldi's (1967) theoretical formulations of the partial reinforcement effect in extinction.

scholarly journals The Partial-Reinforcement Extinction Effect Does Not Result from Reduced Sensitivity to Non-Reinforcement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Harris ◽  
Manuel Stephen Seet ◽  
Dorothy Kwok
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Conditioned Inhibition ◽  
Reinforcement Rate ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect

Five experiments used a magazine approach paradigm with rats to investigate whether learning about non-reinforcement is impaired in the presence of a conditioned stimulus (CS) that had been partially reinforced (PRf). Experiment 1 trained rats with a PRf CS and a continuously reinforced (CRf) CS, then extinguished responding to both CSs presented together as a compound. Probe trials of each CS presented alone revealed that extinction was slower for the PRf CS than the CRf CS, despite being extinguished in compound. In Experiment 2, a CRf light was extinguished in compound with either a CRf CS or a PRf CS that had been matched for overall reinforcement rate. Responding to the light extinguished at the same rate regardless of the reinforcement schedule of the other CS. Experiment 3 replicated this result with a PRf light. Thus, we found no evidence that a PRf CS impairs extinction of another CS presented at the same time. Experiments 4 and 5 extended this approach to study the acquisition of conditioned inhibition by training an inhibitor in compound with either a PRf or CRf excitatory CS. The reinforcement schedule of the excitatory CS had no effect on the acquisition of inhibition. In sum, conditioning with a PRf schedule slows subsequent extinction of that CS but does not affect learning about the non-reinforcement of other stimuli presented at the same time. We conclude that the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect is not due to a decrease in sensitivity to non-reinforcement following presentation of a PRf CS.

Resistance to Extinction: A Test of the Discrimination Hypothesis

1978 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Dubanoski ◽  
Howard R. Weiner
Keyword(s):  
Partial Reinforcement Effect ◽  
Sequential Analysis ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Reinforcement Effect ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Continuous Reinforcement ◽  
Resistance To Extinction ◽  
Discrimination Hypothesis

To test the discrimination hypothesis of the partial reinforcement effect in extinction, partial or continuous reinforcement trials were interpolated between the initial training trials of partial or continuous reinforcement and the extinction period. 112 children from Grades 2 and 3 participated in one of four conditions. Children receiving two consecutive blocks of partial reinforcement showed the greatest resistance to extinction, children receiving two consecutive blocks of continuous reinforcement showed the weakest resistance, and those receiving partial reinforcement followed by continuous reinforcement or vice versa showed intermediate levels of resistance. Discrimination between training and extinction does not seem to be the critical factor involved in the partial reinforcement effect. The results were discussed in terms of a stimulus analyzer or a sequential analysis model.

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